Episodes

That’s what Diane Farley said to her boyfriend, David Blatz, when he picked her up at 8 am from the house of her friend of just six weeks, Sarah Ann Marsceill, known as Sally. Diane and Sally had spent the night before drinking and doing cocaine. But David noticed what appeared to be blood stains on Diane’s clothes. When David Stewart left his sister’s house in Dedham MA on the night of April 23, 1993, he didn’t know it would be the last time he’d ever see Sally alive. He found Sally’s body the...

Clad in bright-red mesh basketball shorts and a red shirt, 39-year-old Mark Felix wasn’t exactly inconspicuous when he approached four young women at different times in Boston’s busy Downtown Crossing on the sunny afternoon of July 10, 2008. He supposedly wanted directions to the Back Bay neighborhood. When he had his target cornered, he exposed his erect penis that was sticking out of the top of his shorts. Later that afternoon, members of the Boston Police bicycle squad arrested him in the sam...

Ever wonder how someone becomes a judge? In Massachusetts, judges are appointed by the governor. Judge Robert C. Cosgrove, an associate justice of the MA Superior Court, discusses the steps in that process and divulges many details of the day-to-day work of a sitting judge.

Sherlock Holmes warned that “it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data … one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts”. That tendency to interpret information to support a pet theory or to support what we think we know is called “confirmation bias”, and it can be a major problem in police investigations when likely suspects are ignored and data or evidence is misinterpreted or even suppressed. Aviva Jeruchim, a criminal defense attorney, explains ho...

In 1993, 19-year-old Sean Ellis was sentenced to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He served 22 years for the murder of Boston Police Detective John Mulligan, who was shot multiple times in the head as he slept in his private vehicle while parked in a drugstore lot in Roslindale MA. At the time of his murder he was on a paid detail. It was revealed after his death that Mulligan was part of a four-man crime spree within the Boston Police Department. While watching TV in prison, Sean saw a Bost...

Shannon ran for Suffolk County DA in 2018; she shares her insights on that important office as well as what it takes to break the cycle of repeat incarcerations for emerging adults. Having a strong commitment to equitable justice, she is now a Vice President at ideas42, a nonprofit that uses behavioral science to address complex social issues such as mass incarceration and racial disparities baked into the criminal legal system.

Not everyone who works in a prison is a correctional officer. Today, Diane’s brother-in-law Irl will share memories of his ten years in the California prison system as a teacher and education administrator. He’ll talk about what it’s like to walk the yards and tiers of a maximum-security facility as “free staff”, connecting with inmates who want to learn and assisting many with their mandated access to legal resources. You’ll also hear about the role of education in helping to reduce recidivism ...

Marco Flores, age 27, is ten years into a 15-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter. Some people say he should never have been incarcerated. The inner demons that drove him to kill a trusted family friend sprang from a horrible breach of trust: he was sexually abused for years. When he found a picture of his young nephew siting on the abuser’s lap, he felt he had to act to protect his family. He captured his plans on video, and even got his abuser to admit on camera what had happened.

Digging the Hole Deeper

Sidebar: 5 Things You May Not Know About Court – Part I

Sidebar: 5 Crazy Things – Part I

Aviva Jeruchim, an esteemed criminal defense attorney practicing in Massachusetts, will share the challenges of preparing a case when your client is stuck behind bars, the unique relationship between lawyers and court staff, and insights into criminal procedure. We will also discuss a case we both worked on, the 2017 self-defense case of Rogers Jordan, accused of murder when he shot his housekeeper’s jealous ex-boyfriend.

The wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley was shaken to its core by the grisly Halloween morning bludgeoning of Mabel Greineder. Dr. Dirk Greineder, her husband, quickly became the primary suspect. Tom Farmer, author of A Murder in Wellesley, and Bill W., a retired Massachusetts court officer, will discuss the 1999 murder and trial as well as Dr. Greineder’s claim of innocence more than twenty years later – despite the revelations about his secret, sex-fueled double life.

A case of a sheared thumb, a Lalapalooza first step is a doozy and an unlikely hero in a courtroom emergency.

The sound of running, a scream, a loud bang. In July 2013, a tenant on the first floor of a triple-decker apartment building in Chelsea, MA, a working-class town next to Boston, was concerned. After hearing the unexplained noises above his head, he hadn’t seen his landlady, Hilda Devincenzo, for four days. When firefighters entered her apartment to check, they found the 88-year old woman had been strangled and robbed. Suspicion quickly fell on her tenant, 38-year-old Feliz Melendez, who had mo...

The candid conversation continues about Diane’s thirty years of experience as a court reporter in state court in Massachusetts. Take your seat in the jury box to hear a unique viewpoint from a true courtroom insider.

Diane Godfrey speaks candidly with Jordan Rich about her thirty years of experience as a court reporter in state court in Massachusetts. Take your seat in the jury box to hear a unique viewpoint from a true courtroom insider.

Court reporter Diane Godfrey takes you on a wild ride through her 30 year career in courthouses throughout the Massachusetts Judicial System. A rare opportunity and unique perspective regaled from a fly on the wall. She felt it, she saw it, she heard it, she lived it, she typed it. She was there and is ready to dive deep into the depravity of the human condition. Diane has transcribed many trials for you, she invites you to take your seat in the jury box and render your verdict.